Marketing Strategy Blog

Marketing strategy for nonprofits and for-profit organizations

The year 2016 is going to be an interesting year. The term “hang on” comes to mind. The stock market is down significantly – maybe plunging is a better word. Add to the mix a year filled with presidential election drama that can best be described as entertaining.

According to Philanthropy Roundtable, philanthropy is a huge part of what makes America America. They rightly state in a recent post that philanthropy’s importance stretches far beyond economics – case in point – their studies show that each year, seven out of ten Americans donate to at least one charitable cause.

“This is one of the things that I find most interesting about social media – yes, it’s great for entertainment and for engaging people in new, exciting ways, but the true power of the medium is in its connectivity, in its ability to link us together and highlight the commonalities of the human condition.”

If you are like most nonprofit leaders, you are asking yourself how the continuing economic downturn will impact your organization – and you may be wondering if 2016 is going to be worse than the last few years. You’re likely wondering how to increase funding so you can maintain the same level of service and program as in the past.

My church launched its annual stewardship campaign not too long ago.

The stewardship campaign is a time when every member of the parish is asked to reflect on their individual time, talent and treasure and determine they can give back through one of these gifts.

While we’re supposed to reflect on all of our three resources of time, talent and treasure – stewardship campaigns eventually turn into fundraising drives, because at the end of the day, churches – just like other nonprofits – need MONEY to pay for programs, salaries, rent, operations, etc.

The way in which information is published and consumed is changing very, very rapidly. Social media is replacing the old tired and true mediums. But even social media is losing some of its luster as time goes by.

Many people believe it’s more important to measure financials (program, administration and fundraising) than it is to measure the impact being made. So how should social impact be measured?

We should be most concerned with fulfilling our mission. Making an impact that is measurable and distinct while changing lives for the good.

As the great Peter Drucker stated many years ago – “Non-profit institutions are human-change agents. Their product is a cured patient, a child that learns, a young man or woman grown into a self-respecting adult; a changed human life altogether.”

As we all know, either from experience or otherwise in the world of nonprofit fundraising – the ground has shifted under our feet. And it’s unsettling. Have you ever been out on a bridge or other structure that juts out over a ravine. Such as the glass bottom walkway over a canyon or a metal grated “see-through” bridge over a river?

Nonprofits are human change agents

“The “non-profit” institution neither supplies goods or services not controls. Its “product” is neither a pair of shoes nor an effective regulation. Its product is a changed human being. The non-profit institutions are human-change agents. Their “product” is a cured patient, a child that learns, a young man or woman grown into a self-respecting adult; a changed human life altogether.”

— Peter Drucker

In 1989, Peter Drucker wrote an article for Harvard Business Review titled “What Business Can Learn from Nonprofits.”

As the story goes, the concept was so counterintuitive that many readers thought the magazine had made a huge typo; surely, it had gotten things backwards. Anyone who was familiar with Drucker, however, knew that he believed in the power of the best nonprofits not only to be effective and highly impactful for the recipients of their services, but also to provide a much-needed sense of fulfillment for their volunteers. “Citizenship in and through the social sector is not a panacea for the ills of … society,” Drucker wrote, but it “restores the civic responsibility that is the mark of community.” Drucker advised the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the American Heart Association, the Girl Scouts of America and many others. In 1991, he created the Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation, which remains among the Drucker Institute’s core programs. READ MORE

For further reading regarding the greatness of Peter Drucker visit HERE